Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership

Landscape Conservation

Action Plan

Part 2

January 2014

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Project Title

HN1 Flagship Heritage Sites

Lead partner

Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership team

Aims

1. To consolidate or restore four of the most significant heritage sites

in Upper Nidderdale (all of which are Historic Environment Record listed):

Fishpond Wood

Prosperous Lead Mines and Smelt Mill

Wath Mill

Scar and Lodge Villages

Legacy

The four sites will have been consolidated to conserve them for current and future generations to enjoy. The consolidation works will halt the deterioration of these heritage sites and the 10 year management and maintenance agreements will be used to carry out any small-scale conservation works required following the end of the Landscape Partnership delivery period. Coupled with the interpretation plans (through Travel Through Time project, website project, etc.), visitors to these sites will be able to understand their significance and place in Upper Nidderdales history.

Description

The 4 flagship heritage sites were chosen following a consultation process with local heritage groups, heritage professionals and the Landscape Partnership Board.

Fishpond Wood is a historic designed landscape centred on a fishpond that was created and enhanced by the Yorke family in the late 18th century and early 19th Century. The designed landscape sits within ancient semi-natural woodland and included formal pathways and a boathouse. An ice house was also constructed and remains intact. The landscaping and planting largely conceal earlier quarrying activity on the site. In the mid-18th Century country house gardens became less formal and more natural, and Fishpond Wood is an example of this movement. The site is crossed by several public rights of way as well as permissive routes. The main consolidation works required are to the ice house and historic pathways through Fishpond Wood.

Prosperous is a lead mining site with great significance as an industrial heritage site and is a scheduled ancient monument. It spreads across a wide area, including the Prosperous Smelt Mill and dressing floors, a flue condenser, as well as many other levels, dressing floors, smelting sites and mine entrances along the valley. The site is of great technical significance with high levels of survival of features such as the smelt mill, condenser, flues and shafts. Remains of 20th century re-mining are also significant,

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demonstrating a later chapter in the industrial use of the site. The area around the smelt mill has been determined as the flagship site due to the good access provided by the Nidderdale Way (bridleway). It offers a tangible link to this once extensive industry that was so influential in this part of the Upper Nidderdale Landscape. The main consolidation works required are to the smelt mill and nearby mine shaft.

Wath Mill is a late 19th century mill built for corn and textiles, following a fire that burnt down an earlier mill on the same site. It fell out of use in the 1930s and has been used primarily as an estate store since that time. The roof was fully repaired in the 1990s and the structure remains a landmark building in Wath. The interior has in the main been left untouched from when the mill was last worked, providing a rare example of a well-preserved and unaltered mill building. With both building and machinery substantially intact, the site offers an excellent opportunity to tell the story of corn milling and flax spinning in Upper Nidderdale. The main consolidation works required are to stabilise the floor and to consolidate the milling machinery. This will halt any further deterioration in the building fabric and historic artefacts, setting the scene for a much longer term project to fully restore the mill. This complete restoration is beyond the scope of the Landscape Partnership delivery phase both in terms of budget and timescale. However the Landscape Partnership will deliver a significant legacy through preventing further deterioration to the mill, galvanising support and setting in motion future restoration plans to ensure a sustainable future for Wath Mill.

The remains of the villages of Lodge and Scar at Scar House Reservoir form the flagship heritage site that tells the story of the head of the dale before the advent of the reservoir, during its construction and afterwards. Lodge is a former medieval grange farm for Byland Abbey, sold into private ownership following dissolution of monasteries and likely to have been continually occupied up to abandonment in the 1920s. It has not been modified since abandonment and is a typical upland settlement from the 17th century made up of five building complexes based on the traditional Yorkshire longhouse of domestic accommodation at one end and livestock at the other. Currently buildings are visible as footprints with several courses of stone work still standing. Scar Village was an extensive early 20th century camp, built and used during the construction of Angram and Scar House Reservoirs. As well as housing blocks, it included many other buildings such as a cinema and bakery. The quarry and associated structures such as track ways and remains of winch house are also prominent in the landscape. The site is adjacent to the popular visitor car park at Scar House Reservoir and consequently has excellent access; however it is little visited or understood despite its significance. The main consolidation works required are at Lodge Village to expose and conserve the building footprints through excavation and soft capping. Minor consolidation works are required to concrete structures at Scar

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Village.

As part of the Landscape Partnership development phase, historic environment surveys were carried out at those sites where detailed archaeological records did not exist in order to identify the key features of each site. A condition survey for each site was then carried out, which produced recommendations for repair and/or consolidation for the sites. At the Prosperous site, the condition survey highlighted a concern about slope stability above the smelt mill. Lead mining specialists from English Heritage subsequently carried out a site visit and determined that there is no slope instability above the smelt mill itself and that the spoil heaps are generally stable in line with other lead mining sites nationally.

Detailed Heritage Management Plans have been produced for each site in conjunction with the sites landowner, with input from other partners including the AONB Heritage Steering Group and the Upper Nidderdale Heritage Network. These plans include detailed requirements for works at each site.

The Historic Nidderdale Project Officer will use (and refine) the Heritage Management Plans to deliver the consolidation works at each site during the delivery phase of the Landscape Partnership.

When procuring works, the Historic Nidderdale Project Officer will ensure the use of traditional building materials (sourced locally where possible) through appropriate specifications. This will both be in-keeping with the historic environment and also ensure compliance with HLFs Planning Greener Heritage Projects guidance.

The Our Rural Future programme will provide opportunities for trainees and volunteers to become involved in practical historic environment conservation work at the flagship sites where appropriate, through the Centre of Excellence for Heritage and the Heritage Skills for All projects. Other works (e.g. large scale structural repairs) will be undertaken by suitably experienced and qualified contractors. Works suitable for volunteer involvement are identified as part of the Heritage Management Plans.

Links to other projects

The Travel Through Time project will link the sites through the public rights of way network and provide interpretation at each site. The Information Points project will provide orientation information at key locations within Upper Nidderdale to direct visitors to the sites. Celebrating Upper Nidderdale will include events such as guided walks, talks and reconstructions to provide further opportunities for the public to understand the four flagship heritage sites. The Website project will provide online interpretation and orientation information to complement the on-the-ground provision. Students from the Centre of Excellence for Heritage project will have opportunities to volunteer in heritage restoration work at the flagship sites as part of their course. Some of the courses delivered through the Heritage Skills for All project will take place at the flagship sites, allowing participants to

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actively contribute to their conservation. The Heritage Tourism project will help local tourism providers understand their local heritage landscape and promote the flagship heritage sites as part of the Upper Nidderdale tourism offer.

Deliverables

Fishpond Wood

1 ice house consolidated 400 metres of historic pathway restored 1 pond restored

Prosperous Lead Mines and Smelt Mill 1 smelt mill consolidated 1 mine shaft conserved

Wath Mill 1 building floor structurally stabilised 1 milling machinery consolidated

Lodge & Scar Villages 1 repair to remains of foundations 1 building complex consolidated

Delivered by

Historic Nidderdale Project Officer Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership team

In conjunction with

Private site landowners of Fishpond Wood, Prosperous Smelt Mill and Lead Mines and Wath Mill. Yorkshire Water who own Lodge Village. English Heritage who provide advice and Scheduled Monument consent fo